[SustainableTompkins] Justice & Sustainability are One

[Elan Shapiro]

This op-ed will appear in Monday's Tompkins Weekly sustainability column.

JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABILITY ARE ONE 
By Elan Shapiro

Justice and sustainability are one? It so often seems that people 
with a global warming and sustainability agenda and those focused on 
social and economic justice are operating in very separate worlds. 
They are often amazed and aghast that those in the other world don't 
"get" the immediacy of their cause. In spite of this all-too-familiar 
story, the good news is that more and more people - both in our 
region and nationally - are beginning to "connect the dots" and find 
more integrated solutions to the threats facing our communities and 
our ecosystems.

Just as industrial pollution's disproportionate impact on 
disadvantaged communities sparked the environmental justice movement, 
the inequitable effects of global warming on less privileged 
populations - whether in New Orleans, Alaska, or sub-Saharan Africa - 
are helping fuel a broad-based coalition for a greener and fairer 
economy. Sustainability is being seen as a way of providing "justice" 
to future generations of humans and to other species, and 
increasingly, efforts to address the inequities in neglected urban 
neighborhoods and war-torn nations like Iraq are linked to the need 
to build more localized economies that are not fossil-fuel dependent.

Once we recognize that we all need and deserve healthy communities 
that serve everybody's interests, for both the short and the long 
term, we see justice and sustainability as inseparable. As the Dalai 
Lama emphasized on his recent visit here, we are all brothers and 
sisters and we are all in this together.

What are some of the encouraging developments that we so rarely hear 
about through our usual news sources? Across the nation, there is a 
growing movement toward a "green collar economy" that can provide 
millions of jobs in the rapidly emerging green sector, from high-tech 
positions to entry level ones that can help low-income workers get a 
foothold and advance. This movement includes job training in areas 
such as home energy efficiency, renewable energy, green construction, 
re-use industries, urban agriculture, and habitat restoration. 
Paralleling this trend are numerous urban neighborhood groups that 
are creating bold initiatives to plan their own positive futures, and 
to put their plans into action. Grassroots groups uniting justice and 
sustainability through citizen empowerment include Reclaim the Future 
(www.ellabakercenter.org) and Green for All (www.greenforall.org)  in 
Oakland; Sustainable South Bronx in New York City (www. ssbx.org); 
Bethel New Life (www.bethelnewlife.org) in Chicago; One Sky 
(www.1skycampaign.org); and Apollo Alliance (www.apolloalliance.org).

Signs of hope abound in our area, too. The Southern Tier Advocacy & 
Mitigation Project (STAMP) engages at-risk urban youth in creating 
video documentaries on the emerging green economy that also address 
the inequities these kids face every day. The Race Liberation 
Alliance (RLA), which creates conversations aimed at reversing racism 
in our community, has as one of its goals to become "a unified 
community who shares local resources that provide for everyone's 
needs."  RLA also organized the well-attended Summertime Bloc Party 
last July. The TC Workers' Center and the Alternative Federal Credit 
Union have established a strong link between fairness to low-income 
workers and building a strong and sustainable local economy, through 
their widely acclaimed living wage campaign.

As access to local and organic foods is coming to be perceived as 
everyone's right, and not just a privilege, the demand for them is 
increasing, making them more affordable. These foods are also 
becoming more available to people with lower incomes through 
subsidized Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, and 
through innovative programs by Greenstar Natural Grocery and 
Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. 

Sustainable Tompkins has begun convening a coalition of social 
justice and sustainability organizations to function in a more 
coordinated way together, under the banner of "creating a just and 
sustainable community."  It has also launched a Just Sustainability 
Initiative that includes a neighborhood education program, Energy 
Efficiency Community Outreach (EECO), whose "learning circles" 
provide hands-on demonstrations of do-it-yourself energy efficiency 
improvements in the homes and apartments of low-income residents. 
EECO will host another series in November (contact 
havana at sustainabletompkins.org for more information).

These are but a sampling of the connections that are bubbling up in 
our area. But realistically, they are still small steps, given the 
depth of personal and policy changes it will take to create a truly 
just and sustainable community. Hopefully, we can join together the 
amazing creativity and good will of our community at a deeper level 
to meet the daunting challenges of our times.

For more information, contact elansla at ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us

-- 
Elan Shapiro
Sustainable Tompkins Program Co-Chair
Sustainable Living Associates, Principal
Frog's Way B&B
211 Rachel Carson Way
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-275-0249

"We must be the change we want to see in the world"
	          Mohandas Gandhi